Strainer constructions



Jan. 6, 1959 p BADER STRAINER cousmuc'rrons Filed March 26, 1956 IN V EN TOR.

United States Patent STRAINER 'CONSTRUCTIONS Paul Bfitler, Esslingen (Neckar), Mettingen, Germany, assignor to Ekco Products Company, Chicago, 111., a corporation of Illinois Application March 26, 1956, Serial No. 573,872

2 Claims. (Cl. 210471) The present invention relates to strainers and has particular reference to strainers for culinary use wherein a wire fabric is bent into rounded or bowl-shaped form and provided with a reinforcing rim to which the upper edge of the bowl is fixed in any suitable manner.

It is an object of this invention to provide a strainer construction of the type indicated wherein the wire fabric body portion is made stronger and more resistant to deformation when subjected to strenuous use.

The above and other advantageous features of this invention will hereinafter more fully appear with reference to the accompanying drawing in which:

Fig. 1 is a top perspective view of a strainer embodying the features of this invention;

Fig. 2 shows an enlarged section taken on line 2-2 of Fig. 1;

Fig. 3 is an enlarged fragmentary bottom view of the wire mesh assembly as it appears in the bottom of the strainer bowl.

In the manufacture of a strainer in accordance with this invention, two layers and 11 of wire mesh material or fabric are arranged in face to face relation and bent into rounded form of desired dimension, as in the strainer body shown in Fig. 1. Thus the wire mesh layer 10 constitutes the inner face of the bowl while the wire mesh layer 11 constitutes the outer face of the bowl. The wires of the layer 10 and the layer 11 are spaced apart from each other in accordance with the mesh which it is desired to use. As shown in Fig. 2, the wires of the outer layer 11 are preferably of larger size and spacing than the wires of the inner layer 10 whereby added rigidity is obtained in the outer layer of the bowl.

The upper edges of the bowl body thus formed by the wire mesh layers 10 and 11 are curled outwardly and downwardly about wire frame members 12 and 13 each having extensions 14 and 15 respectively and a third wire frame member 16 having an extension 17 to provide a handle for the strainer. A circular sheet metal band 18 is clinched over the curled edges of the wire mesh bowl to form a neatly rounded rim which not only locks the wire frame members 12, 13 and 16 into fixed relation to the curled edge portions of the wire mesh bowl body but provides a rigid stilfening frame at the mouth of the strainer.

The wire fabric layers 10 and 11, so locked in face to face interengaged relation by the rim 18, accordingly cooperate to form a bowl body of much greater strength and durability as compared to strainer bowls of conventional single layer wire mesh construction.

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In addition to the strengthening efiect obtained by the bending of the layers 10 and 11 into rounded bowl form, a soldered joint 19 at each intersection of the wires of layer 10 and a similar joint 20 at each intersection of the wires of the layer 11 acts to so tie the Wires against relative movement as to solidify each layer and thereby reinforce the bowl against loss of shape. Each layer 10 and 11 is further joined by a soldered fillet 21 at the points of interengagement between the wires of layer 10 and the wires of layer 11. Accordingly, the direct connection between the layers 10 and 11, combined with the soldered joint effected at each intersection of the wires of each layer 10 and 11, produce a union of the layers throughout the entire area of the bowl so as to increase the rigidity of the structure. At the same time, the fillets produced by such soldered joints serve to close up the tiny spaces which are otherwise present at the intersection of the wires as well as at the interengaging surfaces of the layers 10 and 11, so as to render the strainer easier to keep clean and free from trapped material at said spaces.

The soldered joints 19, 20 and 21 are produced, in accordance with one method of manufacture, by dipping the assembly in a bath of molten tin and removing the excess tin by vigorously shaking the dipped assembly before the tin is cooled and solidified, or by forcing a blast of air through the wire fabric.

In another method of manufacture, the soldered joints 19, 20 and 21 are produced by forming the layers 10 and 11 of wires which have been pre-coated with a film of fusible metal, such as tin, and thereafter subjecting the assembled strainer to heat so as to fuse the precoated surfaces of the wires at their points of intersection during such heat treatment.

What is claimed is:

1. A strainer comprising a bowl shaped body formed of two interengaged layers of wire mesh fabric, each layer having a mesh size at variance with that of the other layer, a handle frame about which the upper edge portions of said bowl shaped body is curled, and a reinforcing rim member clinched over said curled upper edge portions of said body to secure said frame, rim and body in rigid assembly, and a soldered joint between interengaging portions of said layers to establish rigid connection of said layers at a plurality of locations throughout the area of said body.

2. A strainer as defined in claim 1, wherein the layer is of a mesh size greater than that of the layer.

outer inner References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 587,438 Irwin Aug. 3, 1897 1,111,249 Courtwright Sept. 23, 1914 1,599,835 Nelson Sept. 14, 1926 1,622,800 Munich Mar. 29, 1927 2,082,513 Roberts June 1, 1937 2,174,577 Friedman Oct. 3, 1939 2,270,605 Rorabaugh I an. 20, 1942 2,532,052 Ber-man Nov. 28, 1950 FOREIGN PATENTS 6,551 Great Britain i912 

